Jimmy Page said, “At one point, I was absolutely obsessed with Bert Jansch”.
Bert Jansch died in London on Wednesday the 5th of October 2011, from lung cancer, aged 67.
He may not have been a house-hold name, but he had a successful career recording over 30 albums and was a founding member of the band Pentangle.
Asides from Jimmy Page, other artists who cite Bert Jansch as an influence include Neil Young, Paul Simon, Johnny Marr, and Donovan just to name a few.
Jimmy Page was a little more than merely influenced by Jansch. In 1968 Led Zepplin recorded a version of the traditional song “Down by Blackwaterside” for their 1969 album “Led Zeppelin”, which copied the arrangement of the version Bert Jansch had already recorded in 1966. The Zepplin version was so similar that Jansch’s record label sought legal advice and considered suing, however they decided the case would be too expensive and difficult and didn’t proceed. But that didn’t stop Jansch from saying Jimmy Page, “ripped me off, didn’t he? Or let’s just say he learned from me.”
More information is available about Bert Jansch from his official website: bertjansch.com, or his Wikipedia page, and messages in memory of him can be posted on his Facebook page.
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